Title: Most outsourcing is short-term – what can we learn from it?

Authors: Klemen Kavcic, Mitja I. Tavcar

Addresses: University of Primorska, Faculty of Management, Cankarjeva 5, Koper 6000, Slovenia. ' University of Primorska, Faculty of Management, Cankarjeva 5, Koper 6000, Slovenia

Abstract: Our research is aimed at finding an answer to the question of what outsourcing can bring in the long run. One of the important ways to manage the complexity in companies is outsourcing. The research for this article is based on the collection and analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data. A mail survey was conducted among 75 firms and 9 personal interviews were carried out with outsourcing decision makers. The research results show that Slovenian companies are ill-prepared for the time when the cooperation between the outsourcing and insourcing company ends.

Keywords: complexity management; outsourcing; partnerships; risk management; systems theory; short term; long term; Slovenia; cooperation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBSR.2009.023506

International Journal of Business and Systems Research, 2009 Vol.3 No.1, pp.58 - 77

Published online: 25 Feb 2009 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article